Rise of the Goddess
by Pandemonium Theory
Summary: The Seven Great Demon Lords have been rendered helpless. Now they have to turn to the Digidestined to help rid the Digital World of the Goddess and restore their power.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **I know what you're thinking…it's been FOREVER since I've been on. And it's true. I don't have a good excuse…at all, which sorta sucks. I was planning on taking Dark Tamers into a different direction, but I wasn't happy with what was available, like…I'm not satisfied with any choices to fill the gap from Impmon to Beelzemon. And there was a villain that hasn't been released yet - if it's even released - and I wasn't completely sure if I should create an OC or not. If my above conundrum is fixed I might shrug and create an OC. They aren't all that difficult to create. So back to this fic. This is a sequel to my as-of-yet-unreleased-revamp-of-Dark Tamers. Some things have changed from Dark Tamers, so don't be alarmed. They're things that are planned for the revamp. The revamp is going to include a new title as it has diverted from that angle, or rather it has gained more depth. The Royal Knights have nothing to do it, as an example. This story takes place long after the events of the prequel and not long after the events of Revenge of Diaboromon. It is original Digidestined-centric but the younger ones will come into play later on.

**Disclaimer: **Digimon does not belong to me. I am, however, claiming the idea for this story and my OCs.

**Prologue - Calamity strikes! A hard decision must be made.**

Relative calmness surrounded the palace in the Dark Area. Lilithmon tapped her nails along the table of the meeting hall. Something nagged at her. It wasn't like him to go on a recon mission, she thought, let alone take _this _long. She glanced at her comrades. They, too, seemed restless. Daemon stood, looking out the window, searching for a sign that things were alright. The other four were amusing themselves somehow. Barbamon was reading, Belphemon was…well, sleeping, Beelzemon was polishing his guns, and Leviamon was swimming in the chamber connected to the Net Ocean. Nervous energy abounded.

"He should be back by now," Daemon stated. "All he was supposed to do was check the situation. Why he couldn't send a Devimon is beyond me, they might as well do _something_!"

Lilithmon couldn't help but agree but instead said, "Lucemon is fine. He probably took advantage of being out. I know I would savor the time outside the Dark Area."

"Who knows," Beelzemon grunted, "He could've neutralized the threat already. He tends to get full of himself every once in a while."

A cackle of laughter burst from the room. It startled everyone, even Belphemon shifted in restless slumber. The other Demon Lords looked at the source: Barbamon.

"Haha, oh how clever," Barbamon said, mild sarcasm in his voice. "How many Meramon does it take to burn down a forest? Apparently, it takes ten to try before realizing they were trying to burn down a coral reef!"

The others groaned. Barbamon the Wise, as he was known in some parts, was amused by poor jokes. Irony abounds…

"What was that?" Leviamon asked when he surfaced.

A slight electrical, tingly feeling passed through them all.

"I can't sense Erebusmon!"

Barbamon's amused face turned serious, "Something has happened. I sense it, too. Something bad has happened. Has Lucemon…?"

Just then, each of the Demon Lords staggered and crumpled to the floor. A sense of suffocation overcame them and their chests were bursting in pain. A white light engulfed the hall, and the pain escalated until everyone passed out.

* * *

><p>Mt. Jiang is one of the highest mountains in the Digital World. It reaches miles into the sky. In the cave at the very top of Mt. Jiang was a woman-shaped digimon dressed in a kimono with a yellow fox mask. She smiled, for her cunning plan had worked. It was rather simple. She announced her title as Goddess to the the Digital World, and promised to annihilate the Seven Great Demon Lords as show of good faith as well as her might. It was something that she had planned to do anyway, so why not begin her deified duties by exterminating the filth?<p>

She smiled looking out to the vast land. It was hers. No one would stop her; question her, yes, but there would be no sense in raising a battalion against her. Not after destroying the Seven Great Demon Lords. She hit the jackpot when Lucemon arrived at her front door. She expected lackeys to lurk about. Instead, the leader of her opposition spared her the trouble of tracking them down. She heard a lot about the Demon of Pride, and played coy about her announcement. They chatted about how she only meant to be a beacon of hope who were beaten and worn apart. He seemed to buy it.

She smiled at her capture within her home. _Always have your home secured for possible intruders…_the warning played through her mind once again. Her prey stood immobilized in the center of the room standing on a chakra-sealing circle. One thing did have the shaman digimon confused. After she recited her spell, _two _beings appeared inside the circle. One she recognized as the rookie form of Lucemon. The other, which confused her the most, was a blond-haired human boy wearing a black cloak. Where did the human come from? She didn't have access to a spell that would kill the Seven, so instead she opted for one that would de-digivolve them to their rookie stages along with one that would neutralize their crests of power to ensure they couldn't re-attain their mega levels. She would dispose of the powerlessness rookies afterward.

The appearance of a human was startling. When accompanied by a digimon, a human was thought to be a Digidestined. This boy was certainly not one…at least she thought he wasn't. Maybe he was not human and instead a being similar to Gennai - assistant to the Harmonious Ones.

"Lady Sakuyamon!" a voice bellowed from behind her. Startled she turned to see who it was.

An armor-clad, samurai digimon kneeled. Sakuyamon smiled, "Tactimon, you were successful?"

"Yes, m'lady," Tactimon said, standing. "The World of Darkness has been sealed using your enchantments. Two Taomon placed the seals, and Baromon and Sepikmon have stationed themselves to defend from possible intruders."

"Was there any resistance?"

"None until the very end. He must've not thought the sealing would work. But as soon as the sealing was near completion we felt tremors from him trying to break the seals with brute force. But it was too late. We won't have to worry about him helping restore the Seven Great Demon Lords. And you won't have to vie for God of this world."

Sakuyamon grinned. Things were coming along just like she expected - better, even. Now two of her threats were neutralized. The fearsome Seven, and the God of Darkness. This would certainly land her in the favor of the masses. She thought back to the boy in the circle…perhaps he was an assistant like Gennai coming to see her and accidentally warped inside the circle. Ah well, she'd apologize later to the Harmonious Ones.

"Tactimon, gather your forces and tell Zanbamon to do the same. Search all across the Digital World for the rookie forms of the Seven Great Demon Lords. Exterminate them. I would suggest beginning in villages that have recently been attacked. Look in caves, underground hideaways, and anywhere they might hide. Leviamon might be trickier to locate."

"Yes, m'lady." With that, Tactimon left Sakuyamon pondering her next moves.

Now it is time to start conversion. Get the digimon to think of her as the Light personified. Tell them she has defeated the most malicious threat to the Digital World. While it was only a minor technicality that she hasn't exactly defeated them, the rookie forms will have no way to reclaim their former power. They were as good as deleted.

* * *

><p>Lilithmon awoke feeling very…different. She was drained, that was for sure. Something else, though, told her something was very, very wrong. Her eyes adjusted to the room and it hit her at once. She was not Lilithmon anymore. She looked at the other, and found the same result. Everyone had reverted down to their basic forms, wearing the same black robes. She nudged her partner awake.<p>

"Mmmm, what happened?" BlackGatomon, a black cat digimon, asked. She opened her eyes, "Hayley?"

Hayley nodded, "I don't know what happened. I don't remember deciding to revert, do you?"

BlackGatomon shook her head, "It must have been from that shock we had. The pain must have done it."

"Ugh," the boy where Belphemon was grunted as he stood up. "Ah jeez, I'm so tired…"

"Hey, Don you okay?" Hayley asked.

A look of confusion struck his face from being referred to his human name, until he saw his partner Phascomon beside him. "Oh man! How did this happen?"

"We aren't sure," BlackGatomon answered. "We just gained consciousness as well."

One by one the others woke up, startled that they were in their human forms. Zach and DemiDevimon, formerly Daemon, took order.

"Guys, let's not worry about this. Sure, we haven't been like this…for a very long time, but it's going to be okay," Zach said.

"Has anyone tried turning back?" Don asked.

No one had.

"I would like to point out," Darren, formerly Barbamon, said, "that, at least on my digivice, my crest isn't lit up."

Everyone took out their black devices. Their crests were still in place upon the screen, but Darren was right. The crests weren't lit up, which meant that the crests were not active, which meant they could not return to their digimon forms.

"What do we do now?" Betamon asked, looking at his partner Scott. It was hard for the for the pair to not have their shared consciousness as Leviamon.

"Well we certainly can't allow any other digimon to see us like this. Especially not any working for us. They'd turn on us as soon as they realize our vulnerability," Kota, formerly Beelzemon said, obviously frustrated.

They all were frustrated. One big question loomed above everyone's heads.

"Who did this?" DemiDevimon asked. "Does this have anything to do with what Lucemon is doing? And why he isn't back yet?"

Bokomon, Darren's partner, nodded, "It must, along with not being able to sense Erebosmon. The World of Darkness must be sealed off."

"Well we can all agree that we're in deep trouble," Hayley said. "We have a few options…"

"Right," Zach said, "We can ask GranDracmon for assistance -"

Kota cut him off, "Are you insane? We can't do that! He'd kill us as soon as he found out!"

"But he's an ally!" Betamon said. "He helped us before we became the Seven Great Demon Lords. He knows that you guys are humans and that together we become megas."

"That's beside the point," Kota's partner, Impmon said. "Whenever he wants us to visit, he always talks about the old days, and how he wished he could rampage on the Digital World for old time's sake. You know why he doesn't? It's because we're here. We're his replacements. if he found out we weren't able to fill that roll, he would burst from his mansion and destroy us!"

Everyone was quiet. They couldn't argue the facts. GranDracmon is an ally, however he was too unpredictable to rely on. Especially now when they couldn't afford to be turned on. They were too vulnerable.

"Let's face the facts," Darren said, "Someone did this to us. Whoever it was did the same to Lucemon, so now Lance is in the same position as us. Kenneth, too. Our crests have deactivated, which means theirs probably did as well, which means they reverted back as well. Whoever did this is going to want to kill us. We pose, or rather _posed_, a threat. But we'll be hunted to assure that we don't rise back up. They probably assume we're contacting allies already, but as Kota pointed out, we don't really have any that we can turn to. So they will take precautions against something that we can't implement. They're ahead of us. We can't assume we can hold this force off with only six ultimate level digimon - provided we can even achieve _that._ There really is only one choice available."

"And what is that?" Hayley asked.

"The Digidestined," Darren said. He was dead serious, though, despite knowing the possible consequences of involving them.

Scott coughed up a faint laugh, "If only you were referring to us…"

"The Digidestined?" Zach asked.

Darren nodded, "They're the only ones who can help us. With their eight crests, they can definitely help us take on whatever threat is out there."

Zach's face was pained, "But what if they learn who we are…I mean, they know who I am."

"Yeah," DemiDevimon said, "As Daemon, we fought them in the Real World."

"We'll have to lie of course," Darren explained, "They can't know who we really are. At least, not until we stop whoever it is out there. This 'Goddess', as she calls herself poses a major threat if we don't take care of it. It reeks of the same corruption from before - when we were originally summoned to the Digital World. Whether she knows of our role in the past or not, we're the only ones aside aside from Fanglongmon and the Harmonious Ones who know the past. With us out of the picture, who will stand in the way?"

Kota nodded, "Even GranDracmon would fall if the Royal Knights organized underneath her. He's right, the Digital World would face another era of corruption and oppression in the name of peace and Light. The Digidestined wouldn't even interfere and if they did it would be too late. I agree with Darren, we have to try."

Everyone else agreed, besides Zach, who was still uneasy.

"Relax, Zach," Darren said. "We're only summoning the original eight. We won't summon the other four unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Fine," Zach said, reluctantly, acknowledging the gravity of the situation. "Let's do it. We have to be careful though, we know how sensitive the younger two are to demon-type digimon."

"We'll just have to construct our lie very carefully," Darren said.

"Or…how about we tell them the truth," Hayley offered, "At least, what the truth was when we were weak and vulnerable. Back when we were chosen as Digidestined. We were protectors of peace and balance. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded. It was time to prepare the summoning. There was little time to waste.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Yes, it is short. It's only a Prologue, though, meant to set up the rest. I hope I've grabbed your interest! For you who have read Dark Tamers, you might be a little confused. Well, even if you haven't you might be confused. All I can say is disregard Dark Tamers as a whole. I'm going to revamp it. But the theme is still the same with these characters. They aren't evil. As for why I've chosen the original eight, I personally believe they are stronger the the 02 gang. The show made the 01 guys way too weak in my opinion. Even TK and Kari, who had more experience, were the weakest on the team. The new guys will make an appearance, but not any time soon. Again, to those who read Dark Tamers, a lot has changed from names, to characteristics, to digimon, to digivolution lines. Don't expect a whole lot to remain the same from Dark Tamers. Review and post any thoughts, complaints, and whatever else. I'll try to update in a week. Updates won't we fast, but they will happen! One last not regarding Erebusmon. He is an OC of mine so don't rush to look him up. More info about him will arise in good time but if you are curious go on Wikipedia and look up Erebos. Might give you a clue or two. Until next time!


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Well here we are for our second installment!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Digimon.

**Chapter 1: Unity Against The Enemy!**

Zach walked back into the meeting hall, seeing that the necessary preparations had been met. Thanks to Darren and Hayley's expertise in magic, a way to summon the Digidestined had been devised by means of a summoning circle.

"I just finished talking to Gennai," Zach said. "He says the Harmonious Ones understand the situation and will not interfere with us. It's up to us to convince them, though."

"It shouldn't be too difficult," Hayley said."As long as we stay consistent. We can get their support by telling them our story. Digidestined tend to stick together."

Zach nodded, thinking back to when he had entered the Real World to extract the Dark Seed from the Digidestined known as Ken.

"How do we know this is going to work?" DemiDevimon asked, perched on Zach's shoulder.

"Please," Bokomon scoffed. "Barbamon and Lilithmon are two of the greatest sorcerers the Dark Area has ever seen. Our knowledge alone is enough for a simple _summoning_."

Slightly irritated, Zach said. "That's not what he meant…"

Hayley smiled, "I know what you're getting at. We're hardly human anymore - closer to Gennai's kind - digital beings that are neither digimon nor human. And because of that, this summoning _will_ work."

Zach nodded. He along with the others surrounded the circle and placed their digivices along the white chalk line. Hayley poured the contents of a bottle in the center of the circle. Steam wafted through the air as the ground began glowing. Darren activated his digivice and the others followed suit. One by one, the digivices came alive along the circle, releasing a black energy that formed a protective pillar around the circle.

"Now what?" Scott asked after a couple minutes.

"We wait," Darren said. "It could take awhile for them to materialize here in the Digital World. Thankfully we have permission or else they would have been relocated as soon as they crossed the barrier to the Digital World."

"Of course we had to get permission," Zach said. "We don't want to be accused of kidnapping. We'd never hear the end of it _or_ regain our power."

Phascomon yawned, "Wake me up when they get here…"

* * *

><p>In the Real World, Tai and Kari sat at home watching TV. Some sitcom was airing reruns the two had seen a dozen times, but it was always fun to watch them again. Outside it was raining heavily, keeping the siblings from enjoying the outside.<p>

"I wish it would stop raining already," Kari complained.

"Tell me about it," Tai said. "I tried to organize a pick up game at the park but everyone called back saying they didn't want to play in the rain. I mean, what's a little water gonna do?"

Kari shrugged, "I wouldn't want to play. It could be really muddy out there."

"It makes it more challenging," Tai mumbled, submitting to the fact that he wasn't playing soccer today.

"How about we go to the Digital World?" Kari offered. "It probably isn't raining there!"

"Great idea, Kari!" Tai said. "We can use Dad's old computer and you can open up a gate. Maybe I can get Agumon and the others to play soccer…"

"Oh, Tai," Kari laughed. "Let me call the others, I'm sure they're just as bored as we are."

"Good idea."

Before Kari reached the phone, a minor power surge hit their apartment.

"Whoa, weird," Kari said, before she dissipated out of existence.

"Kari?" Tai called out, as he too disappeared.

* * *

><p>At the Ishida residence, TK was spending the weekend and the two brothers were in the kitchen cooking.<p>

"I'm so glad you learned to cook," TK said, watching his brother stir the soup.

"Yeah me, too" Matt said. "You can only take so many of Dad's extra crispy grilled cheese sandwiches."

"Haha, tell me about it, the last time I had one it was _black_!"

Matt poured two bowels and the two sat at the table.

"Thanks, Matt," TK said, after taking a bite. "It tastes great!"

"No problem," Matt grinned, taking a bite as well. After a minute he asked, "So you and Kari, what's up with you guys?

TK blushed, "What do you mean?"

"You guys spend a lot of time together at school, at the Digital World, at the mall…"

"So? We're just friends!"

"Right…"

Embarrassed, TK changed the subject, "So what about you and Sora?"

"What about us?"

"Are you guys getting serious…?"

Matt chuckled, "Nah, we're taking things slow and smooth. No need to rush, right? We're just enjoying being in a relationship. Plus, we're too busy to get serious. I've got my band and she has tennis."

TK nodded, "I know what you mean."

"You do?"

"I'm not so sure I want to be in a relationship yet."

Matt peered at his younger brother carefully, "You're not…in the closet, are you?"

TK's face reddened, "What?"

"Because it would be perfectly fine if you wanted to come out, though I don't know how Kari will feel…"

"What would make you think that?"

"Well, now that I think about it, you and Davis are pretty close too and you _do_ hang out with Kari more than guys your own age…"

"Matt! Me and Davis? There's no way!"

Matt grinned as he stood to take his bowel to the sink, "I'm just making observations."

TK stood to follow him, bowel in hand, "Me and Kari have been through a lot you know. Back when we were little with Myostismon and the Dark Masters and not too long ago with MaloMyotismon. And besides, Davis likes Kari a lot. There's not way he's gay."

Matt laughed, "I know, I'm only giving you a hard time, bro."

The power blinked off and on, confusing the brothers before they vanished.

* * *

><p>The same had occurred to the other Digidestined. Joe vanished while studying for several upcoming exams. His life "depended" on passing these exams. Izzy was on his laptop researching digivolutions digimon tended to take and what caused alternate digivolutions. This was spurred on when he encountered a Tentomon who digivolved into Kuwagamon instead of Kabuterimon. He disappeared when he was struck with a hypothesis. Mimi was on her way to the beach on Coney Island after shopping for her beach "necessities". She finally arrived when she vanished into thin air. Sora decided to stay in bed longer due to the rain. She finally managed to wake up when her stomach decided it was lunchtime. She had just popped out of the shower and was heading to the kitchen when she, too, disappeared.<p>

* * *

><p>Betamon had resurfaced in the meeting room after checking in the Net Ocean for news about the Goddess.<p>

"Any luck?" his partner Scott asked.

"Not much. They don't know where we are, though, from what I've heard her forces aren't even looking in the Dark Area. A Gesomon said she heard one of the Goddess' commanders is scouting out a village that was attacked by an Ogremon and a band of Goblimon."

Scott sighed in relief. "She must not be all-knowing if she doesn't think to look in the Dark Area. We're safe for now."

"She's not all knowing," Kota said, with a tint of irritation. "She's not really a Goddess, just pretending to be. But you're right, it is strange for her not to launch an assault on the Dark Area."

"She doesn't have enough followers to launch an assault," Zach explained. "It would be suicide to come here with only a few forces. Even if she is powerful and has a couple megas on her side, there are plenty of strong digimon not far from the border. Plus, we aren't the only megas in the Dark Area."

BlackGatomon nodded, "There are the other Demon Lords like Deathmon, and other virus-type megas wandering the wastelands."

"She doesn't have formidable strength yet," Darren mused, "but that's not to say that won't change. She'll receive power from others, and it will be easy too - with us in the state we're in."

D.J yawned, "These guys better get here, what's taking so long?"

Suddenly the pillar of black energy flared in response, and the shield of energy crumbled revealing eight humans and eight digimon.

"Hunh," Mimi gasped, looking around at her friends and spotted her partner. "Palmon! What's going on here?"

"I don't know, Mimi," Palmon said. "I was walking in the forest when I ended up here."

The Digidestined erupted into a loud discussion of where they were and what was going on. Kota rubbed his temples, trying not to yell at them. Oddly, Zach was calm during the chaos and gave a look to Hayley.

"Please, calm down," Hayley said, taking her cue. "Everything is alright and will be explained, but you need to quiet down."

"Who are you?" Tai asked.

"My name is Hayley," she answered.

"Are you like Gennai?" Sora asked, pointing out how Hayley and the others were wearing black cloaks. "Did you summon us here?"

"We are more like you actually, and yes we did summon you here."

"Hold on," Matt said. "What do you mean you're more like us?"

"And why are we here?" TK asked.

Hayley smiled patiently, "One question at a time. I'll answer the most pressing first. You all want to know why you've been brought here. It probably wasn't convenient being brought here…"

"I'll say," Sora said. "Five minutes sooner and I would have still been in the shower."

"I'm sorry, but we did not have time to consider what you were doing when we summoned you here. The Digital World is in danger. The threat is not one you have experience in. A digimon, calling herself The Goddess, is vying for control of the Digital World. And she will get that power, unless you help us."

"Ken was like that when he was the Digimon Emperor…it's not completely new territory," TK put in.

Zach decided to join the conversation, "Yes, but The Goddess is a good digimon, she does not wish to destroy the Digital World and many digimon will want her to succeed in her quest. Many good digimon will aid her."

"Well if she's good, why are we here?" Kari asked. "I don't understand why you need our help."

"It's like this, someone who gains ultimate authority like the Goddess is attempting, changes from being a force of good or evil to a force of absolute authority. Power corrupts the holder and oppresses everyone under its control. The Goddess will attain this if she isn't stopped," Darren explained. "She seeks to upset the balance of good and evil by defeating everyone who stands as a threat to her authority. It's what she did to us."

"Again," Matt asked, "who are you?"

"We're Digidestined," Hayley said, earning a collective gasp from the Digidestined. "We came long before you did, to a threat very much like this except the Digital World was already under a dictatorship. We changed it to what it is now. One where both forces - good and evil - can coexist instead of only one existing."

"If that's the case," Izzy said, thinking the situation through, "why are you still here? I mean, we've come and gone and there's a newer group. Why don't you leave the Digital World and let the younger generation take over?"

Kota couldn't help but laugh in the back. Scott snickered as well.

"Don't mind them," Hayley said. "The answer is that without us, someone like The Goddess would have already conquered the Digital World through good-will and virtue."

"But surely we would've been called, or the Harmonious Ones would have…" Izzy interjected.

"Done nothing," Hayley finished for him. "The Harmonious Ones are guardians, _not_ gods. They don't rule this world, only protect. And only that goes so far. If the population recognizes a leader, the Harmonious Ones respect the decision and keep out. As for you guys, your crests of virtue wouldn't hold up against a holy adversary. We are the guardians of good and evil. We maintain the balance of light and darkness and intervene when one gets too high over the other."

Joe, who hadn't said much save to Gomamon, said, "Did nobody tell you guys that we're retired? The new guys do a pretty good job, you know."

"They do not possess the eight crests of virtue," Darren said. "Their power is small compared to you. You have both the power and numbers which outrank them. "

"We don't have the power of our crests anymore," Kari said. "We gave them up to release the Harmonious Ones from their prisons."

"You still have the power. Don't you remember your fight with Apocalymon? The power rests inside you. Believing in that power is key."

The Digidestined took a minute to absorb the new information.

"So why do you need us?" Tai asked. "You said you were all Digidestined, why aren't you able to do it?"

"The Goddess," Zach said, "sealed our crests somehow. Lance, our friend, went to the Goddess beforehand to see what she was about. And now he's captured. Another one of our friends, Kenneth, is sealed in the World of Darkness."

Kari gasped, remembering her time there, "Oh no!"

"We're not much use against The Goddess' growing power," Zach said. "As it stands, you have more power than we do. We'll assist as much as possible, but until our crests are unlocked we will be relying on you. We need to free both Lance and Kenneth."

"Your crests…" Izzy mused. "I thought we were the only ones who had them."

"We have eight different crests than you do. Their…_slight_ variations. Unlike yours though, ours help us achieve the mega level."

"You can all go to the mega level?" Tai asked, shocked. "Me and Matt were the only ones who could in our group."

"There are six of us here," Hayley said. "Two megas and twelve ultimates are better than our six ultimates alone."

"Provided we can reach the ultimate level," Izzy said.

"You _can_," Darren said.

"So will you help us? Help us free our friends if nothing else?" Hayley pleaded, looking each of the Digidestined in the eye.

"What do you think, guys?" Tai asked his friends.

"We have to, one of them is stuck in the World of Darkness," Kari said.

"I'm sticking with Kari," TK said.

Matt sighed, "Guess I'm in, if TK is."

Everyone else nodded in agreement too, though Joe did so reluctantly.

"We're in," Tai said. "You can count on us!"

* * *

><p><em>Today has been rewarding, <em>Sakuyamon thought. She had convinced three towns and the forest surrounding Mt. Jiang to follow her. What surprised her most was that some digimon decided to become missionaries in her name and set out to journey to other villages and towns. Less work for her. It was great that things have turned up. _If only I could find those pesky rookies…_. She wasn't too particularly worried, but she would rather them gone. Every moment they still exist is an opportunity for them to cause complications.

She was enjoying the sun out in her zen garden on a lower level of the mountain. The sun was great, life was great…_What is that smell? _Sakuyamon turned to find the lion-like digimon, Liamon standing with his head bowed.

"Pardon me for interrupting you, m'lady," Liamon said, "I wish to relay information from Lord Zanbamon."

Sakuyamon nodded, "Go ahead."

"Thank you," he said, lifting his head. "Lord Zanbamon has scoured two rural towns that were in distress. A Phantomon had manifested power in the two towns and his data is now in the Dark Area, along with MetalPhantomon who had attacked the recently re-populated Glass City. He is heading west to a factory in the Badlands and from there he will travel north-east to a village reported to be inhabited by several Boogeymon. Still no sign on the fugitive rookies."

_Figured as much, _Sakuaymon thought. _Will they elude me forever? _She shook her head of the thought, "Thank you Liamon, tell your Lord Zanbamon that I have noted his progress and to report back with any significant news."

"Yes, m'lady," Liamon bowed and then took the passage down Mt. Jiang.

Sakuyamon retuned to her zen garden, meditating on a future plan of action. It was fortunate that the missionaries manifested on their own, because now more land could be covered. Eventually the whole continent would be hers, and after that the rest of the Digital World would fall to her like dominoes.

* * *

><p>"Your digivice," Izzy said to Darren, "may I see it?"<p>

Darren nodded and passed it to him.

"Interesting," Izzy said, "Are all of your digivices black?"

They nodded.

"It's exactly like ours, only black - what is this symbol etched on the screen?"

"It's our crest," Darren explained. "We didn't have tags like you did. When we found our crests they were absorbed into our digivices and appeared on the screen."

"And what is your crest?" Izzy asked.

"Erm," Darren had to think before he answered, "it is the crest…of wisdom."

Scott smirked and Kota rolled his eyes.

Izzy's eyes widened, "Prodigious! Mine is knowledge."

"I know. We know a lot about you, we watched your adventures from in here."

"And where exactly is 'in here'?" Sora asked, looking around. "It's like a gothic cathedral…"

"Close," Hayley said, "but it's a castle. We took residency when our adventure ended. And we're inside the Dark Area…but don't worry you're perfectly safe with us. No one bothers us."

Sora nodded not completely understanding, "Why not pick someplace…_outside _the Dark Area?"

Hayley shrugged, "It gives us perspective."

"If we're all done discussing," Zach said, "we should head out of the Dark Area. The Goddess isn't looking for us in here and we can't unseal our crests or save Kenneth and Lance from within these walls."

The Digidestined nodded.

"Don't worry," DemiDevimon said, "we can talk while we're out walking. There'll be plenty of time for that."

"How long of a walk is it from here to the outside?" Tai asked.

"Way too long by foot," Kota said.

"At least a week if not more," D.J said.

"Less if we swam…" Scott added, "but that's not as feasible."

Tai's morale dropped a little, "Oh, alright then, I guess we better start walking!"

Zach laughed, "Yeah, if we were walking it would take too long. Luckily my friends and I have a shortcut."

The Digidestined eyed him, puzzled. Zach demonstrated by pointing his digivice against the wall. A black beam shot out and a shadowy portal stood erected by the wall. Surprise painted the Digidestined's faces. The others only grinned.

"This will get us to the outside world in seconds," Zach said.

"Well what are we waiting for?" DemiDevimon asked. "All aboard the Gateway Express!"

Bokomon rolled his eyes, "Oh how I missed your personality…"

Everyone piled in through the portal, leaving the palace empty and quiet.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **I don't think I mentioned this last time but the Sakuyamon in this story is Sakuyamon Miko Mode. I tried to convey a difference by describing her in a kimono, but I wasn't entirely sure that got through to everyone. I hope you enjoyed it, and if there were any issues or you have something you want to point out, write it in a review! Until next time...


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